The Gods and Demigods read Percy Jackson
by PeoplePerson16
Summary: The title says it all really. Demigods from camp Half-Blood and camp Jupiter get together with the past gods to read PJO.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the books or characters :(

AN: The Demigods come from just after the SON OF NEPTUNE; the Olympians come from before the LIGHTNING THIEF.

People included:

All the Olympians

Annabeth

Grover

Piper

Leo

Jason

Thalia

Nico

Frank

Hazel

Paul

Sally

More should come later.

**Poseidon POV**

It was just a normal day in Olympus. Artemis was arguing with Aphrodite about love, Athena was trying to argue with me about Athens and Zeus was moaning because he couldn't say his speech that he made. Normal.

A bright light filled the room and I was just about to ask Apollo to shut his mouth when the light faded and there were eleven people in the centre of the room. I recognized Sally and I smiled at her when I saw her but all the others I didn't know.

"INTRODUCE YOURSELVES!" Zeus' voice echoed around Olympus. I mean, how can the king of the gods be so dramatic? He'd be better off in theatre.

"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena" A girl with blond hair and grey eyes said quietly, almost as a whisper. Athena wondered what was wrong with her daughter to be so quiet.

"Yeah, hi, you should know me; I'm Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus" Another girl said cheerily; trying, and failing to lighten the mood.

"How are you alive again?" Zeus asked, surprised but confused.

"Someone went and got the Golden Fleece and then, here I am!"

Zeus' expression was priceless.

"Grover Underwood, Satyr" A scrawny goat/boy said almost as quietly as Annabeth. Something had obviously happened and it affected them a lot.

"Nico di Angelo, son of Hades" A skinny boy said nervously. All Hades broke loose.

"HADES, YOU BROKE THE OATH!" Zeus roared.

"Actually Nico was alive before the oath was made. I just arranged for him to be out in the lotus hotel and casino" Hades told Zeus calmly."And, you can't say much as you have a child too.

"You filthy piece of sh..."

"Zeus, that's enough. We can talk about this later when there's nobody around." Zeus just moaned about brothers quietly.

"Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite" A girl with multicoloured eyes proudly said. Aphrodite beamed at her daughter.

"Hi, I'm Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus" A boy with a mischievous smirk on his face exclaimed. He didn't look like a typical son of Hephaestus. All the others were big and buff from working in the forges all day, yet this little skinny kid was one of them?

"Jason Grace, son of Jupiter" Another child said anxiously, like he didn't know what to expect.

"ANOTHER CHILD, ZEUS!" Hades screamed. "You shout at me for hiding my child, when you sire two of your own!"

"Why is a roman with a bunch of Greeks though, that is what's concerning" Of course Athena asked that question.

"It's a long story" Jason rushed out.

"Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto" A girl with golden eyes exclaimed. Hades looked like he had been hit.

"But Hazel, your dead." Hades stated shocked. "How are you alive again?"

"It's a long story, but you can thank Nico." Hazel told Hades.

Hades beamed at his son.

"Frank Zhang, son of Mars" A big kid said quietly.

"I'm Sally Jackson, human" Sally whispered, almost crying. I nearly went to comfort her, but then the man who sat near her started to. They weren't together were they?

"Okay, now can you please tell us why your here?" Athena asked impatiently. Athena really doesn't like not knowing stuff.

A smaller bright light filled the room and a book fell, straight on to Artemis' head. "Ouch! Apollo, where did this come from?"

"Why do you think it was me, there's a lot more people in this room then just you and me?"

"Because it has a note attached and it says your name at the bottom, dumbass"

"Okay, can you just read the note; I really need to know what's going on." Athena asked politely. That really surprised me, Athena's never polite.

**Dear gods, goddesses, and people of earth.** **Hi! Yeah, this is the best god ever here, Apollo! I got bored, so I got some books from the gods' future, but the Demigods, Grover, Paul and Sally's past. Enjoy! APOLLO**

"What are the books called Artemis?" I asked curiously. With Sally there, I suspected what it was about

"Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, Percy Jackson and the Titans Curse, Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth, Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian." Artemis read.

"I'll start then" I said, trying to keep calm but freaking out. _That's my son!_ Artemis passed me the book I started to read. "Chapter 1, I accidentally vaporise my math teacher."

A/N: What do you think? This is my first Fanfic, so all reviews needed. :)


	2. I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORIZE MY MATH TEACHER

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the books or characters.

A/N: Have to use the shared laptop with the family as my computer is too slow. Updates might not be as quick as others, but I will do my best and I will complete the stories.

**Nobody's POV**

Poseidon opened the book to the right page and started to read.

"**I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORISE MY MATHS TEACHER**

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood."**

"Who does?" Thalia asked. The Gods looked down to their children but no-one would look back.

"**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close the book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life."**

"That wouldn't work. You would still have that suspicion and if you have the suspicion, the monsters will start coming." Athena stated. Nobody wanted to tell her that she was talking to a book.

"**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways."**

At the end of the paragraph, all the parents were looking at their children; who were looking down at the floor.

"**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages – if you feel something stirring inside – stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before **_**they**_** sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

**Don't say I didn't warn you."**

"You didn't for any of us here." Nico pointed out, causing everyone to nod their heads.

"**My name is Percy Jackson.**

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid?"**

"Yes!" Was the answer that echoed around Olympus.

"Percy has great friends" Poseidon grumbled to himself.

"**Yeah, you could say that."**

"Percy just confessed to being a troubled kid; priceless!" Grover burst out before laughing with all the other Demigods.

"**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan – twenty – eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff."**

"That sounds amazing! I wish I could have gone then." Annabeth exclaimed, a dreamy look on her face.

"**I know – it sounds like torture."**

"It does not!" Athena and Annabeth shouted at everyone who was nodding their heads at what Percy said.

"**Most Yancy field trips were.**

**But Mr Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip so I had hopes."**

"I know Latin" Jason smiled.

"I know, but you didn't have to learn it." Annabeth shot back. Jason shot her an apologetic look; he didn't mean to be rude, he didn't think.

"Aw, looking out for Percy are we?" Thalia whispered to Annabeth, who immediately turned tomato red. "Just carry on please Poseidon."

"**Mr Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorised wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket which always smelled like coffee."**

"Sounds like Chiron." Dionysus blurted out."But why would he teach at a school just for that brat?" Dionysus got splashed with water in the face.

"Percy isn't a brat" Poseidon shouted, then calmed down a lot when he saw everyone looking at him. "He sounds okay so far." He said, trying to cover his tracks. Luckily, all the gods believed him, apart from Athena, who knew that something was up. _He's so protective over Percy. Could Percy be Poseidon's son? No, he would be at the camp already if he's twelve._

"**You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also has this awesome collection of Roman armour and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep."**

"His grades must be terrible!" Athena shouted, appalled. "Something must be done before he fails and gets no grades."

"He will get grades, Athena. He already has some good grades." Sally told Athena. "He stays in school as much as possible, and he has changed a lot academically since this book." This calmed Athena down, who looked like she was going to incinerate someone.

"**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

**Boy was I wrong."**

"He always finds trouble, wherever he goes." Annabeth sighed, missing Percy more than ever with these books. Thalia noticed that, and comforted her.

"**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a revolutionary war cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway."**

"What was he aiming for then?" Leo asked whilst laughing.

"Probably some kid of monster, knowing Perce" Frank said seriously. "That's just his luck for you though."

"Does he really have that much bad luck?" Poseidon groaned when everybody who knew Percy nodded.

"Worse than now." Hazel informed him.

"**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind- the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that ... Well, you get the idea."**

"Nooooo" Apollo and Hermes moaned. "We want to hear more!"

"**This trip, I was determined to be good."**

"How well did that work out?" Leo asked Grover.

"Not well at all." Grimaced Grover, remembering the Kindly One, then the Fates, then the Minotaur.

"**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly red-headed kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich."**

Ares leaned forwards expectantly. Waiting for a fight that he thought would happen.

"How is he your father?" Hazel asked Frank, who just shrugged, not knowing or caring about the stupid war god. It was his fault his mom had died. She went to war to see him again. Frank hated him for it.

"**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must have been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled."**

"Wow, nice thoughts towards his best friend" Grover sarcastically said.

"**He had a note excusing himself from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria."**

"Stupid Satyr, blowing his cover, not getting to camp fast enough." Zeus grumbled to himself, but somehow Thalia heard.

"Dad, it's not Grover's fault. I chose to make a stand, and if I hadn't, Annabeth, Luke and Grover as well as I would've died. I made the choice, so stop blaming Grover."

Zeus was speechless.

"**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck to his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death-by-in-school-suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip."**

"But that ruins the fun!" Hermes moaned about Percy's luck.

"'**I'm going to kill her,' I mumbled."**

Ares leaned forward in anticipation.

"**Grover tried to calm me down. 'It's okay. I like peanut butter.'**

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

'**That's it.' I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

"OH! Why did you stop him you imbecile!" Ares kept moaning and groaning for ten minutes before he finally stopped.

"'**You're already on probation,' he reminded me. 'You know who'll get blamed if anything happens.'**

"DO IT ANYWAY!"Ares screamed.

"Ares, shut up please, I'm actually trying to listen."Aphrodite surprisingly said.

"Y...You care about this little kid?" Ares wondered. "I could squash him with my thumb!"

"YOU WILL NOT DARE ARES!" Poseidon boomed, spraying water into his face. Athena wondered why Poseidon cared so much. _He can't be Poseidon's son, he would be dead already. But that's the only logical answer._

"**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

Sally looked worried. Paul noticed and reassured her. "Percy's fine. Nothing will happen to him. And, he's already been through all of this so you know he's fine."

"Yes, I know that, it's just that this is the first time I have heard the details about all of it. Percy's told it to me simply, but not in a lot of detail." Sally smiled at Paul to show that she was fine.

"**Mr Brunner led the Museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheel chair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind to think that this stuff had survived for two, three thousand years."**

"Longer."Athena simply stated, not wanting to waste time trying to explain to the demigods what year each individual piece came from.

"**He gathered us around a four-metre-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a **_**stele, **_**for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other chaperone, Mrs Dodds, Would give me the evil eye.**__

**Mrs Dodds was this little maths teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last teacher had a nervous breakdown."**

"Sounds like Alecto." Poseidon said quietly to Hades, who started shivering. Poseidon was mean when he's angry.

"**From her first day, Mrs Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn."**

"No that's Nico" Thalia said cheerily.

"Yep." Nico said cheerily back, then thought about what Thalia had said. "Oi!"

"**She would point her crooked finger at me and say, 'Now, honey,' real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old maths workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs Dodds was human. He looked at me real serious and said 'you're absolutely right.'**

"Way to blow your cover, dumbass." Annabeth said to Grover who had blushed cherry red under the Olympians stare.

"I meant it as a joke; I didn't think he would remember it." Grover desperately said before someone incinerated him.

"It's Percy we're talking about, when does he ever let anything drop?" Nico asked Grover who was shaking under Poseidon's glare.

"**Mr Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the **_**stele**_**, and I turned around and said 'Will you **_**shut up?'**_

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"Of course it did seaweed brain!"

**The whole group laughed. Mr Brunner stopped his story.**

'**Mr Jackson,' he said, 'did you have a comment?'**

**My face was totally red. I said, 'No sir.'**

**Mr Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the **_**stele**_**. 'Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?'**

"I'll bet you ten drachmas that it's about Kronos eating his kids." Apollo told Hermes.

"Deal."

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. 'That's Kronos eating his kids, right?'"**

"BOO YEAH! I rock!" Apollo shouted as he counted his drachmas.

"But, how did you know?" Athena wondered once Apollo had finished his counting (which she was amazed that he could do without help).

"Lucky guess," Apollo shrugged. "Chiron always chooses that one."

"'**Yes,' Mr Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. 'And he did this because...'**

'**Well ...' I racked my brain to remember. 'Kronos was the king god, and –'**

"GOD! We would not take the same name as such filth!" Zeus roared as a storm brewed around Olympus.

"Zeus sit down, you look like an idiot." Hera grumbled.

"Yes Zeus, the boy is just learning, he will eventually correct his mistake." Poseidon stated calmly, making Athena think even harder.

"'**God?' Mr Brunner asked.**

'**Titan' I corrected myself."**

"Poseidon, how do you know this boy's thoughts so well? It is almost as if you were father and son?" Athena questioned. Poseidon glared but answered anyway,

"It is what I would have done if I were in that position myself. Do not take things so literal, otherwise it clouds your mind." Poseidon gave advice to Athena, who was left speechless.

"'**And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um Kronos ate them right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters –'**

'**Eew!' said one of the girls behind me."**

"You try being in there then, if you say Eew, just thinking about it!" Demeter huffed, angrily.

"'**- and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans,' I continued, 'and the gods won.'**

Most of the Olympians just sat in shock. "He just turned years of fighting into a few sentences. How?" Hera asked shocked.

"**Some snickers from the group.**

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, 'Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'**

'**And why, Mr Jackson,' Brunner said, 'to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?'**

"Is Chiron trying to get him to think about Demigods?" Frank asked the gods, who didn't know either.

"Maybe, but you can never tell with Chiron." Hermes shrugged.

"'**Busted,' Grover muttered.**

'**Shut up,' Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got into trouble, too. Mr Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

"Or horses ears." Leo joked.

"**I thought about his question, and shrugged. 'I don't know, sir.'**

'**I see,' Mr Brunner looked disappointed. 'Well, half credit, Mr Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach."**

"Not the best part of my life." Demeter muttered, hating her father, Kronos even more.

"**The gods defeated their father, sliced him into pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy not, it's time for lunch. Mrs Dodds, would you lead us back outside?'**

"Happy note?" Zeus grumbled, who looked like he was about to incinerate Chiron.

"Calm down Zeus, he's just talking about it being time for lunch, I doubt he would support Kronos." Hera said.

"**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other and acting like doofuses."**

"When do boys not act like doofuses?" Artemis told all the males, who immediately started shouting at each other.

"**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr Brunner said, 'Mr Jackson.'**

**I knew what was coming**.

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned towards Mr Brunner. 'Sir?'**

**Mr Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go – intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

'**You must learn the answer to my question,' Mr Brunner told me.**

'**About the Titan's?'**

"Yeah sure, that's what he means" Thalia said sarcastically. Piper was just looking at her weirdly,

"How are you related to him?" Piper asked Jason, who just shrugged, and carried on listening to Percy's story, which was actually quite interesting.

"'**About real life. And how your studies apply to it.'**

'**Oh'**

'**What you learn from me,' he said, 'is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.'**

**I wanted to get angry; this guy pushed me so hard.**

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armour and shouted; 'What ho!' and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. But Mr Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C- in my life.**

"That's terrible!" Athena shouted, wondering how that child would ever get any better.

"He has got a lot better though, he's got more grades now than he had when he was twelve.

"**No – he didn't expect me to be **_**as good**_**; he expected me to be **_**better. **_**And I just couldn't learn all the names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr Brunner took one long look at the **_**stele**_**, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

"Sounds interesting" Dionysus said while yawning, earning him quite a few glares from the other gods.

"**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city."**

All the gods looked at Zeus, wondering what he was so angry about.

"**I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York State had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, and wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

All the gods were looking at Zeus and Poseidon, wondering what was going on between them.

"**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a ladies bag, and, of course, Mrs Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

"Is she one of yours, Hermes?" Grover asked Hermes, who just shrugged, not really caring.

"**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from **_**that**_** school – the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere."**

"Did it work?" Piper asked Grover, who just shook his head. It didn't work very well at all.

"'**Detention?' Grover asked.**

'**Nah,' I said. 'Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean – I'm not a genius.'**

"We all knew that already. Stupid Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth muttered to all the Demigods, who started laughing.

"**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, 'Can I have your apple?'**

"Stupid Satyr" Zeus mumbled into his beard while Grover blushed red from all the people laughing at him.

"**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home."**

Sally and Paul both smiled at that. Paul smiled because he thought about Percy always caring for Sally. "Mommy's Boy" Ares said, and straight away, got drenched from head to foot in seawater.

"**She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school on six years and I was probably going to get kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me."**

"At least he stopped himself from coming home this time." Sally sighed sadly. "When he was in his third-grade school, he walked out of the school and back home."

"**Mr Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorised cafe table.**

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends – I guess she's gotten tired of stealing from the tourists – and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

'**Oops.' She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos."**

"Nice image there, thanks Fish face." Nico gagged before turning back to the book.

"**I tried to stay cool. The school counsellor had told me a million times, 'count to ten, get control of your temper.' But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears."**

All the gods were looking at Poseidon suspiciously. Poseidon was freaking out but trying to stay calm. _Please don't say anything about me. Don't do anything with water. Please._

"**I don't remember touching her, but the next I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, 'Percy pushed me!'"**

"POSEIDON!" Zeus and Hades roared, with Athena scowling right behind them.

"How can both of you shout at me for having a child when you have children as well. Zeus, you have two kids in this room with us, and Hades, you have one in here as well! Stop shouting at me when both of you have children as well."

"Can we please carry on with the book please?" Athena asked, wondering why Annabeth is here if the books are about a stupid son of kelp head.

"**Mrs Dodds materialised next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: 'Did you see –'**

' – **the water – '**

' – **like it grabbed her – '**

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc, etc, Mrs Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. 'Now honey – '**

'**I know,' I grumbled. 'A month erasing textbooks.'"**

"NO!" Hermes screamed appalled. "You never guess your punishment!"

"**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

'**Come with me,' Mrs Dodds said.**

'**Wait!' Grover yelped. 'It was me. **_**I **_**pushed her.'**

**I stared at him** **stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs Dodds scared Grover to death.**

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

'**I don't think so Mr Underwood,' she said**

'**But – '**

'**You – will – stay – here.'**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**It's okay, man,' I told him. 'Thanks for trying.'**

'**Honey,' Mrs Dodds barked at me. '**_**Now.'"**_

"What's the monster?" Poseidon asked threateningly.

"I think it might be Alecto" Hades told Poseidon quietly.

"YOU SENT A FURY AFTER MY SON!" Poseidon roared. Hades, realising the danger, started shaking, muttering apologies. "My son better be okay. If he isn't..." Poseidon left the threat hanging.

"**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later-stare. I then turned to face Mrs Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out the universe and left me staring at the black place behind it. The school counsellor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

**I wasn't so sure."**

"Don't hesitate, you have good instincts. You usually get things right." Annabeth informed the book.

"Um, Annabeth, you do knowyou're talking to a book, right?" Hazel asked Annabeth, who immediately blushed, but nodded.

"**I went after Mrs Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr Brunner, like he wanted Mr Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

"Shouldn't Chiron keep an eye on Demigods, instead of books?" Apollo asked everyone, who just shrugged. That was Chiron.

"**I looked back up. Mrs Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

Ares leaned forward in anticipation. This chapter still might be good.

"**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

**Mrs Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverise it...**

'**You've been giving us problems honey,' she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said 'Yes ma'am.'"**

"He's learning. Poseidon, he's got hope yet." Hermes informed, who decided to soak Hermes.

"He's not a thief."

"**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. 'Did you really think you would get away with it?'**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

**I said, 'I'll try harder ma'am.'**

**Thunder shook the building.**

'**We are not fools, Percy Jackson,' Mrs Dodds said. 'It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess and you will suffer less pain.'**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room."**

"Stupid Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth shouted, not believing how idiotic someone could be.

"**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on **_**Tom Sawyer**_** from the internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book."**

"I love that that book!" Athena and Annabeth both moaned. They both smiled at each other.

"'**Well?' she demanded.**

'**Ma'am, I don't...'**

'**Your time is up,' she hissed. Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbeque coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shrivelled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons."**

"Lovely image there again. Percy really sees the beauty of people, doesn't he?" Grover said to everyone, who all laughed.

"The poor thing really badly needs a dentist" Aphrodite said sickly. Alecto had terrible teeth.

"**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand."**

"What's a stupid pen going to do to a fury?" Ares asked everyone, who stayed quiet.

"'**What ho, Percy!' he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

**Mrs Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen any more. It was a sword – Mr Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

**Mrs Dodds spun towards me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

"Wus" Ares muttered to himself, but what heard by everyone. Poor Ares got drenched by Poseidon and electrocuted by Thalia.

At everyone's questionable looks, she just simply said, "I wanted a reason to shock someone."

"**She snarled, 'Die, honey!'**

"At least she's polite" Apollo said, and everyone looked at him weirdly, so he let the subject drop.

"**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. **_**Hiss!**_

**Mrs Dodds was a sandcastle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporised on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulphur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing eyes were still watching me."**

All of the people who didn't know what had happened stared in shock. He was twelve and he killed a fury. _Twelve!_ Frank and Hazel were wondering how much they didn't know about their friend.

"**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

**Mr Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

"He's still letting the mist affect him?" Athena asked to the Demigods, who just shrugged.

"That's Percy for you."

"**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

**Had** **I imagined the whole thing?**

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, 'I hope Mrs Kerr whipped your butt.'**

"Who?" Poseidon asked anyone.

"The mist dumbass, it must have swapped Mrs Dodds with a different mortal." Athena impatiently explained to Poseidon, who was just sitting there looking dumb.

"'**Our **_**teacher**_**. Duh!'**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs Dodds was."**

"This should be good, Satyrs can never lie." Dionysus said fondly, still making Grover blush though.

"**He said 'Who?'**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"Here you go Grover, I've arranged for you to have a lesson on lying with my sons. For your own sake, please go." Hermes offered a slip to Grover, who took it, terrified. There was no way he would say no to a god. He wasn't Percy.

"'**Not funny, man,' I told him. 'This is serious.'**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

**I saw Mr Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. 'Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr Jackson.'**

**I handed it over. I hadn't even realised I was still holding it.**

'**Sir,' I said, 'where's Mrs Dodds?'**

**He stared at me blankly. 'Who?'**

'**The other chaperone. Mr Dodds. The maths teacher.'**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. 'Percy, there is no Mrs Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?'**

"Chiron sure can lie," Hermes whistled appreciatively. "If only he could teach you, Grover, and then you would be a master in no time."

"Um, thanks?" Grover said, wondering what he should say.

"Well that's the end of this chapter, who wants to read next?"

Apollo interrupted everyone by screaming, "I want to read next!" He caught the book thrown to him, opened it to the right page and started reading, shocking Artemis.

"**THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH"**

A/N: I probably won't be able to update until after New Year, because I've got to visit my family. I will update as fast as I can after though!

P/S: Percy is eventually going to come in, but I don't want him in too early. I'm going to do all the books hopefully, so he's probably going to come in about halfway through this book.


	3. THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the books or characters.

A/N: Hey, my story is getting loads of views, so I'm definitely going to carry on. :)

Apollo caught the book, opened it to the right page and started reading.

"**THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH**

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly."**

"He needs to see a doctor" Apollo said, flashing into a nurses uniform. "Don't worry; he'll be fine in no time!"

"Actually, Apollo, the weird experiences are probably monsters. The mist will cover it up and it will probably be weird, like Mrs Dodds." Hephaestus explained to Apollo, who looked kind of stupid.

"Oh"

"**This twenty-four / seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me."**

"Nobody cares enough about you to do that. It's only for cool people." Ares rudely said.

"Is that why it's never happened to you?" Annabeth glared at Ares, who, surprisingly backed down.

"Sorry"

"**The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs Kerr – a perky blonde woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip – had been our maths teacher since Christmas."**

"That would be weird." Jason said thoughtfully.

"It was." Grover confirmed, who was there.

"**Every so often I would spring a Mrs Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

**It got so I almost believed them – Mrs Dodds had never existed.**

**Almost.**

**But Grover couldn't fool me."**

The said person blushed, a very dark shade of red at the end of the sentence, especially with everyone looking at him. "You're not seriously that bad, are you?" Frank asked Grover, who just somehow went even darker red.

"**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

**Something was going on. Something **_**had **_**happened at the museum."**

"Duh, you were nearly killed!" Nico said, who got a murderous look from Poseidon and Annabeth. He didn't know which one was scarier.

"**I didn't have time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat."**

"That poor thing" Aphrodite said sympathetically. "Hades, stop giving Percy nightmares!"

"**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out all the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever seen in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls over the Atlantic that year."**

"Why are you two fighting? Innocent human lives are being wasted because you two can't play together? This is stupid. If you two don't have a good reason to fight, I will not be a part of it, and you two would have to fight without the brains!" Athena moaned.

"There probably is a good reason, so don't worry." Zeus told Athena, who had calmed down enough to listen to the story.

"**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class."**

"You said he improves?" Athena asked Sally, who just nodded. "He better do before he gets even dumber."

"**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good."**

Annabeth started giggling after the paragraph. "Old sot means an old fool."

Ares complained about that. "Come on! At least say a something like, 'you mother fu...'"

"Ares! I will not have that type of language in front of kids!" Hera screamed.

"**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy."**

"Wow." Hermes said, impressed. "Six schools in six years, that's got to be a record."

"**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was homesick.**

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to a public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

**And yet ... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees."**

"He likes his cabin better though, with the smell of the sea in his cabin, the view of the sea right outside his cabin and the woods as well." Annabeth told Poseidon, who beamed, thinking of how he could make his cabin better for Percy.

"How do you know that Annabeth?" Athena asked politely, not wanting to know what she thought the answer was.

"We've basically been on nearly all the same quests; it's given us time to talk." Annabeth shrugged, silently pleading the book not to have some of their talks.

"**I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend"...**

Grover smiled.

**..."even if he was a little strange."**

Grover's smile slid right off his face. "What a good friend Percy is." He grumbled to himself.

"**I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

**I'd miss Latin class, too – Mr Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr Brunner had told me about this subject being life – and – death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him."**

"That's the worst thing he could have done. The more suspicious he gets, the more monsters he will attract." Artemis grimaced. Percy really is different to other males. Who knew?

"**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the **_**Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology **_**across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards."**

"So, is that what it feels like, every time you read?" Frank asked Annabeth, who just nodded.

"Why, don't you read or anything?" Annabeth asked back, curious.

"No, I do read, it's just that I can read perfectly. The only thing wrong with me is lactose intolerance." Frank told her. Everyone laughed at his luck, as he said "And I like Ice-cream as well."

"**There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it. I paced around the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt."**

"Take off the shirt then" Hermes suggested to the book, which wasn't wearing the shirt.

"**I remembered Mr Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old-eyes. **_**I will accept only the best from you Percy Jackson.**_

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book."**

Athena breathed a sigh of relief.

"**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat 'F' I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking that I hadn't tried."**

"Aaah, trying to impress Chiron. So sweet!" Demeter surprisingly. Aphrodite looked like she thought the same, which would be the first time ever. She just kept her mouth shut.

"**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said '... worried about Percy, sir.'**

**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper,"**

"Liar. You eavesdropped on Bianca and Zoe when I was there." Nico pointed out to the air.

Artemis, noticing the name, Zoe, asked Nico "Who's Bianca?"

"My sister" Nico looked like he was going to cry, so Annabeth and Thalia sandwiched him and started comforting him.

"HADES!" Zeus roared again. "Another child? That makes it three now, so you are worse than me."

"But Zeus, all of my children are from before the pact was made. Nico and Bianca were in the Lotus Hotel and Casino, and Hazel was dead." Hades faded off towards the end, not knowing or caring what Zeus was shouting at him about.

"Can we please get back to the book?" Poseidon asked, wondering what would happen to his son by the end.

"**, But I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

**I inched closer.**

'**... alone this summer,' Grover was saying. 'I mean, a Kindly One in the **_**school!**_** Now that we know for sure, and **_**they **_**know too – '**

'**We would only make matters worse by rushing him,' Mr Brunner said. 'We need the boy to mature more.'**

'**But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline – '**

'**Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can.'"**

"I don't know what Chiron's talking about. Percy's still blind and ignorant to most things, especially the gods." Thalia said, and left Jason, Piper and Leo to wonder how much the gods hate him.

"'**Sir, he **_**saw**_** her...'**

'**His imagination,' Mr Brunner insisted. 'The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that.'**

'**Sir, I...I can't fail in my duties again.'"**

"Stupid Satyr, can't protect anyone" Zeus kept grumbling into his beard. He made sure Thalia couldn't hear

"**Grover's voice was choked with emotion. 'You know what that would mean.'**

'**You haven't failed, Grover,' Mr Brunner said kindly. 'I should've seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next autumn – '"**

"That's a nice thing to hear about you from your favourite teacher and best friend, isn't it?" Poseidon's voice was filled with sarcasm.

"**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

**Mr Brunner went silent."**

"Of course he did, why would he carry on if he heard a strange noise outside his door?" Athena asked, not really believing the stupidity of someone.

"**My heart was hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow."**

"That's because it probably is an archer's bow, dumbass" Thalia said to no-one, she just wanted to say it.

"How would he have known at that time though?" Annabeth asked Thalia.

"I don't know, but, you have to admit, Percy is really slow at catching on to things." Annabeth just blushed, getting what Thalia was saying, and nodded her head in agreement.

"**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

**A few seconds later I heard a slow **_**clop-clop-clop,**_** like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on."**

"Wouldn't Chiron be able to smell him, though?" Apollo asked Athena, who decided to keep it simple for him.

"Percy's smell would be everywhere, so Chiron would only think that it's his old smell, not actually him."By the end of that, Apollo was looking even more confused than before.

Poseidon gave a simpler version. "Everywhere smells like Percy." Apollo then understood it, whilst Athena just scowled at Poseidon.

"**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

'**Nothing,' he murmured. 'My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice.'**

'**Mine neither,' Grover said. 'But I could have sworn...'**

'**Go back to the dorm,' Mr Brunner told him. 'You've got a long day of exams tomorrow.'**

'**Don't remind me'**

**The lights went out in Mr Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever."**

"It was probably five minutes, knowing Fish Face" Nico told everyone, who all agreed.

"He's getting better" Annabeth tried to defend him, but it was quite hard.

"**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to my dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam noted like he'd been there all night.**

'**Hey' he said, bleary-eyed. 'You going to be ready for this test?'**

**I didn't answer.**

'**You look awful.' He frowned. 'Is everything okay?'**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed."**

"He may not be able to read your expression, but I bet that he could read your emotions." Dionysus said fondly, thinking of the Satyrs.

"**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr Brunner called me back inside."**

"It's too bad Poseidon," Hermes sighed. "If he didn't get caught, he would have been a good thief. It's a shame, what this worlds coming to, isn't it?" After Hermes had finished, Poseidon just asked Apollo to read.

"**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem."**

"Hooray! Percy still might be a thief! He could make me proud" Hermes said whilst wiping a tear from his eye. Poseidon was going to shout at Hermes, that Percy was not a thief, and then probably soak him in water for good measure, (and a little fun) but Paul and Sally got there first.

"My son is an honest young man," Sally told Hermes, who was just a little surprised. "Yes, he may have done a few wrong things, like blowtorching a national monument, or blowing up a gym, but it's been to either save him, or save others. He is a good young man." Sally looked like she was nearly crying by the end, but Paul was there to comfort her. Frank, Hazel, Jason, Piper and Leo all thought the same thing: _He's done what?_

"'**Percy,' he said. 'Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best.'**

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

**I mumbled, 'Okay, sir.'**

'**I mean ...' Mr Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. 'This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time.'"**

"Chiron really needs to learn how to be sensitive." Aphrodite sniffed. "That isn't really the best way to let someone go."

"**My eyes stung.**

**Here was my favourite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

'**Right,' I said, trembling.**

'**No, no,' Mr Brunner said. 'Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be – '"**

"Wow, even I know that was a little bit insensitive." Hermes whistled.

"'**Thanks,' I blurted. 'Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.'**

'**Percy – '**

**But I was already gone.**

**On the last day of term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were **_**rich**_** juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies."**

"I wouldn't call and of us here a family of nobodies." Hephaestus grumbled into the air, while everyone else looked like they thought the same.

"He doesn't know about us yet, it's only a matter of time." Poseidon stated calmly.

"**They'd asked me what I'd been doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the autumn."**

"At least he cares about his education. That's a lot better than some people." Athena looked relieved, while everyone looked at her weird, like, _can you believe her?_

"'**Oh,' one of the guys said. 'That's cool.'**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed."**

"People can be mean." Piper frowned, knowing more than anyone how mean people can be.

"**The only person I dreaded saying goodbye to was Grover but, as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city."**

"What a coincidence," Dionysus yawned, at least showing that he was listening. _The Brat's life might be interesting._

"**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, 'looking for Kindly Ones?'"**

"Bet you were scared so much then." Thalia teased Grover, who blushed red and was starting to hate this chapter.

"**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. 'Wha – what do you mean?'**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr Brunner the night before the exam.**

**Grover's eye twitched. 'How much did you here?'"**

"Only ALL of it!" Grover moaned, thinking of how stupid he'd acted back then.

"'**Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice deadline?'**

**He winced. 'Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ... '**

'**Grover –'**

'**And I was telling Mr Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs Dodds, and ...'"**

"Better." Hermes said, while giving another slip to Grover. "Another appointment about lying. This one's to teach you not to over work the lie. Because then it becomes obvious that your lying. An..."

"Just shut up Hermes, and read Apollo, now!" Artemis commanded to the boys, who straight away did what they were told. Artemis was scary.

"'**Grover, you're a really, really bad liar.'**

**His ears turned pink.**

**From out of his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. 'Just take this, okay?' In case you need me this summer.'**

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

**Grover Underwood Keeper**

**Half-Blood Hill**

**Long Island, New York**

**(800)009-0009**

'**What's half – '**

'**Don't say it aloud!' he yelped. 'That's my, um ... summer address.'**

**My heart sank."**

"Why?" Grover wondered. Nobody had an answer for him.

"If we keep reading, we will probably find out." Annabeth summed up.

"**Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy."**

"Oh," Grover said cheerily. "At least he doesn't think that I'm a spoilt Brat."

"'**Okay,' I said glumly. 'So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion.'**

**He nodded. 'Or ... or if you need me.'**

'**Why would I need you?'"**

"Percy!" Sally shouted while Paul groaned beside her. "Why would you say such a mean thing?"

"**It came out harsher than I meant it too.**

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. 'Look, Percy, the truth is, I – I kind of have to protect you.'**

**I stared at him."**

Just like everyone in the room. "Why would he think that when he's gotten into fights for you. He nearly got killed by a Fury, because of what Nancy did, to _you" _Poseidon asked Grover. Grover just blushed.

"**All year long, I'd gotten into fights keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended **_**me.**_

'**Grover,' I said, 'what exactly are you protecting me from?'**

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell of rotten eggs."**

Aphrodite summed up everyone's thoughts. "Eew."

"**The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

**We were on a stretch of country road – no place you'd ever notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars."**

Grover just started muttering about the pollution of the world, until his voice got drowned out by Apollo.

"**On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old fashioned fruit stand.**

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood-red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice."**

Demeter had a dreamy look on her face when all this was mentioned.

"**There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen."**

Poseidon groaned. Was Percy ever going to get a break? "Why? Not the Fates. Let him see Alecto again or something. Why the Fates?"

"**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me."**

The whole of Olympus was silent. All the gods, (except Poseidon, who was freaking out) were trying to work out how the young Demigod is still alive.

"**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

'**Grover?' I said. 'Hey, man – '**

'**Tell me they're not looking at you. They are. Aren't they?'**

'**Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?'"**

"Not funny Percy, not funny at all. Please stay safe, please." Poseidon muttered to himself, until he found out the book had carried on.

"'**Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all.'**

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors – gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath."**

Just like the whole of Olympus. Even the Demigods didn't know this bit.

"'**We're getting on the bus,' he told me. 'Come on.'**

'**What?' I said. 'It's a thousand degrees in there.'**

'**Come on!' He prised open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back."**

"NOOO! Get back on the bus Percy, please." Poseidon begged the air.

"**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that **_**snip **_**across four lanes of traffic."**

Poseidon looked like he was about to incinerate someone, so Grover went to him and whispered something. Poseidon looked a lot better after that.

"**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for – Sasquatch or Godzilla."**

"How can he still be making jokes at times like that?" Piper asked the Demigods, who all just shrugged.

"That's Percy for you. Always lightening the mood when times are dark." Annabeth answered quickly. Athena scowled, knowing something was up. _They can't be together, so how does she know so much about him?_

"**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

'**Darn right!' yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. 'Everyone back on board!'**

"Couldn't he have done that a little bit quicker?" Poseidon asked Athena, who scowled like she got poked in between the eyes.

"No, you dumbass. The Fates must've stopped the bus, specifically so that Percy sees them cutting the string."

"**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

**Grover didn't look muck better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

'**Grover?'**

'**Yeah?'**

'**What are you not telling me?'"**

"Only that your whole life as you know it is a lie, your father is one of the Olympian gods, oh, and that you are now destined to die." Nico summed up thoughtfully

"**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. 'Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?'**

'**You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs Dodds, are they?'**

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs Dodds. He said, 'Just tell me what you saw.'**

'**The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn.'**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost – older."**

"He is very good at spotting little things, isn't he?" Hazel asked the Demigods, who all nodded their heads at once.

"**He said 'You saw her snip the cord.'**

'**Yeah. So?' But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

'**This is not happening,' Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. 'I don't want this to be like the last time.'"**

"Oh, and you wanted the first time to happen, did you?" Thalia looked hurt, while Grover tried to explain himself.

"'**What last time?'**

'**Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth.'**

'**Grover,' I said, because he was really starting to scare me. 'What are you talking about?'**

'**Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me.'**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

"How well did that promise turn out?" Nico asked Grover, who looked a bit pissed off.

"Not as well as I'd hoped."

"'**Is this like a superstition or something?' I asked.**

**No answer.**

'**Grover – that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?'**

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin."**

"And, there you go. Another chapter down." Apollo said cheerily.

"Right, I suggest that we all get some lunch now, it's already 1.00 okay? We'll continue the book after.

"FOOD!" Hermes, Apollo and Leo screamed, and charged into the Olympian kitchen. Artemis followed with all the other Gods and Demigods, muttering about how idiotic men are.

"I'll do us all a massive pizza to share." Sally offered, then settled on when nobody refused.

Once everyone had eaten as much as they could, everyone sat down again. "Who wants to read now, then?" Apollo asked, who had the book in his hand.

"I will" Said a voice that was behind everyone.

A/N: Cliff hanger! I've left it open, so that you can decide who's coming in. Review you answer, or just PM me. The person with the most votes will come in! Good Luck!


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